Hideously diverse Britain + Labour | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/series/hideously-diverse-britain+politics/labour
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Labour must renew its vows to Britain’s minoritieshttp://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/21/labour-renew-vows-britain-minorities-black-network
The Labour Black Network will unveil its manifesto for change at party conference this week – and it is urgent that Ed Miliband pays attention<p>Question: how might the Labour party respond to its near-death experience in Scotland? The vote was won, but it seems clear that Labour’s estrangement from its former support base made the race such a tight one in the first place. The last thing it should become is complacent.</p><p>A priority must be to shore up its white working-class vote, but also to renew the vows it once had with Britain’s minorities. Labour traditionally did nothing much to collect the minority vote, not least because strategists assumed it had nowhere else to go, but those days are receding fast. For every photo of Chuka Umunna, the Tories can produce one of Sam Gyimah. Labour can say: we eased racist immigration laws. The Tories can say: we are looking anew at stop and search, and we cut the air fuel duty so minorities can visit relatives abroad without financial penalty.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/21/labour-renew-vows-britain-minorities-black-network">Continue reading...</a>Race issuesLabourPoliticsSun, 21 Sep 2014 18:02:11 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/21/labour-renew-vows-britain-minorities-black-networkPhotograph: Tim Ireland/PAEd Miliband and Chuka Umunna.Photograph: Tim Ireland/PAEd Miliband and Chuka Umunna.Hugh Muir2014-09-21T18:02:11ZDoes Labour need all-black shortlists?http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/12/does-labour-need-all-black-shortlists
The party has a woeful number of MPs of African and Afro-Caribbean origin – hardly any more than it did in 1987<p>Whom the gods would destroy, first they make mad, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whom_the_gods_would_destroy" title="">said Longfellow</a>. Failing that, they send them to parliament. It's no easy life and yet there must be compensations. An endless queue of folk seek to do it.</p><p>A lot of them are working class, and the obstacles they face are rightly being highlighted, but a great deal of them are black and working class. That's a double whammy. Some parties are better than others, but by dint of historical association, minorities expect more of Labour. Usually, those hopes are dashed.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/12/does-labour-need-all-black-shortlists">Continue reading...</a>LabourEqualityPoliticsDiane AbbottDavid LammyHouse of CommonsSun, 12 Jan 2014 19:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/12/does-labour-need-all-black-shortlistsPeter Jordan/Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImageDiane Abbott in 1987, the year she became an MP. Photograph: Peter Jordan/Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagePeter Jordan/Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImageDiane Abbott in 1987, the year she became an MP. Photograph: Peter Jordan/Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImageHugh Muir2014-01-12T19:30:00ZHideously diverse Britain: I know better. But we all make mistakeshttp://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/may/13/diverse-britain-inadvertent-stereotyping
What is there to learn from inadvertent stereotyping during coverage of the London mayoral campaign?<p>It's been an unsettling few days. Instructive, but unsettling. I subscribe to what Humphrey Bogart's detective says in The Maltese Falcon. &quot;I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble,&quot; he tells a would-be client. If you write this column, you make a few enemies. I just like them to be the right ones.</p><p>It began with <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/may/05/ken-livingstone-london-mayor-election-defeat" title="">an article I wrote about the electoral demise of Ken Livingstone</a> in the London mayoralty. I referred to a meeting Livingstone had with Jewish Labour activists who wanted to repair the rift that opened up between them during his final stint in power. It didn't go well. I sought to make the point that having been offered an olive branch, it was silly of him to upset a good proportion of them all over again. Only that wasn't how I said it. In an early draft, dashed off with a view to further revision, I messed up. I said Ken should have made more effort with London's &quot;Jewish political establishment&quot;. That clumsy wording was eradicated in all later drafts, including the one submitted for publication. Sod's law, as the production team tried to keep up with the busy events of an election night, the first draft with the offending phrase was the one they used.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/may/13/diverse-britain-inadvertent-stereotyping">Continue reading...</a>Race issuesKen LivingstoneWorld newsBoris JohnsonUK newsLondon mayoral election 2012SocietyLondon politicsLocal governmentLondonMayoral electionsPoliticsLabourJudaismReligionSun, 13 May 2012 19:31:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/may/13/diverse-britain-inadvertent-stereotypingHugh Muir2012-05-13T19:31:01ZThe black man who could help the BNP win Barkinghttp://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/apr/02/bnp-barking-labour-george-hargreaves
Labour is worse than Nick Griffin's 'racist' party, says the Rev George Hargreaves of the Christian party<p>As protesters proclaiming themselves &quot;the Workers of England&quot; amplify the Beat's Stand Down Margaret into the busy high street, the Rev George Hargreaves tells me why his <a href="http://www.christianparty.org.uk/" title="Christian party website">Christian party</a> can't possibly do a deal with Labour. It's theological, he explains. Deep. Psalm 94, verse 20 warns that there will be a &quot;throne of iniquity&quot;, and that's the Labour government, with its equalities act forcing Christians to make nice with gays; its education rules hampering them from running faith schools as they wish; its hostility to creationism. And how can I make any sort of deal with Margaret Hodge <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/13/nick-griffin-margaret-hodge-barking-dagenham" title="The Guardian: Griffin vs Hodge: the Battle for Barking">here in Barking</a>, he asks me? In terms of morality, he says, she's the worst. &quot;Abortion, gambling. She has no Christian credentials at all.&quot;</p><p>And this is fine as it goes, for Hargreaves probably won't win the parliamentary seat, despite his best endeavours. And the Christian party is unlikely to win the council. But with Hargreaves working the black churches in the area with what we can indeed call religious fervour, he could do Labour a deal of damage, leading to what many see as the most likely nightmare scenario, a BNP-led local authority.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/apr/02/bnp-barking-labour-george-hargreaves">Continue reading...</a>BNPChristianityReligionLabourNick GriffinLondonGeneral election 2010Local electionsLocal politicsThu, 01 Apr 2010 23:05:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/apr/02/bnp-barking-labour-george-hargreavesHugh Muir2010-04-01T23:05:04Z